Simply Talice
by Fempire
Summary: My own take on how Tasha and Alice got back together in Season 6. Set somewhere between 'the meeting' at The Planet and Bette and Tina's party.


**A/N: This is short; too short for my liking. This also feels rushed, and I really hate that feeling. This is my first ever proper fanfiction; so please forgive me if there are mistakes!**

**There may or may not be more stories in the future. I'm not too sure where I'm headed with this.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The L Word or any of its characters. It all belongs to the amazing Ilene Chaiken!**

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Every time Alice thought back to what happened, she would chomp down another spoonful of ice cream. That was the only thing she could do now to hold back the wave of negative emotions that were attempting to befall her. She soon concluded that the coldness of the ice cream was, at most, justifying her numbness. Staring at the generic clownfish desktop image on her laptop, the thoughts began to peek from behind their ice cream cover and her stomach instinctively sank.

Right now, Tasha and Jamie were no doubt hooking up back at Jamie's apartment. Jamie was sliding Tasha's vest slowly, tentatively, lusciously down her shoulders, just the way Alice used to. Tasha would pick Jamie up, Jamie would straddle Tasha's waist, and Tasha would carry Jamie into the bedroom to begin Alice's favourite past-time with Tasha. Then, Tasha would pin Jamie up against the wall and…

"Tasha and Jamie…" Just before Alice could utter the unthinkable, her computer chirped, and a scoop of ice cream slid off of the spoon and onto her lap. She cursed under her breath as she leaned closer to the laptop and noted that Max had sent her an instant message. She grabbed a tissue to swipe the ice cream off of her lap and simultaneously reached over with her other hand to click open the message to read what Max had written:

_**Maxboi83**: I'm still ripped! You think I can do a podcast on how to safely pump iron while you're pregnant?_

Her eyebrows quirked upward, and just before she could reply and ask Max what the hell he was on about, he signed out.

"Well, that was weird…" Shrugging it off, Alice resumed paying the bowl of ice cream the well-deserved attention it required. Before she could delve back into the dark thought of Jamie and Tasha together, the door buzzer rang.

"Jesus fuck! Can I not get any privacy?" she cried out as she put the bowl of ice cream down and got up to answer the beckon of the evil buzzer.

"Alice? It's your mother. I've been kicked out of a hotel again, and I…" Before her mother could even finish, Alice buzzed her in and cursed the fact that after all of the shit she put her through, Lenore was still her mother. She groaned loudly as she made her way back into her bedroom, fell face first onto the bed, and savoured the last few seconds of silence and privacy she would have in her own apartment for quite some time. That was definitely the last thing she needed right then.

The door creaked open, and Alice pressed her eyes shut tightly, almost as if she hoped that would make the situation go away. She heard shuffling, and hesitated. Two pairs of feet were shuffling, not one. Alice wasn't in the mood for her mother, let alone a companion of her mother's. She was not about to board two people today._ 'Who the hell did she bring with her this time?' _she thought as she turned around and propped herself up on one elbow to get a better vantage point to look at Lenore. That's when Alice's heart jumped pace, and her breath hitched in her throat. Her suspicions were confirmed.

Lenore was definitely not alone.

"T-…" was all Alice could muster up to speak.

"Alice, sweetie, dear Tasha is the one who drove me here. I have to say, riding on the back of a motorcycle brought me back to the days when I briefly had adventures with the Hell's Angels, and I…" Lenore's trumped up story was cut off by Alice slamming the door to the bedroom in her and Tasha's faces.

Alice's eyes widened and she panted lightly, trying to sum up what the hell just transpired in her infamous Hallway of Drama.

Tasha.

Here.

In Alice's apartment.

Not with Jamie.

With Lenore, but not with Jamie.

_'Does that mean…?' _Alice straightened her shirt and patted down her hair, concluding to herself that she would not freak out. No, she had to get it together, even if inside she was a nervous wreck. She would not off-put Tasha more than she already has. She would find out what exactly happened and be straightforward about it.

_'Okay. Let's do this.'_ Turning to slowly open the door, she plastered on a chipper façade.

"Tasha! Mum! Hey… guys," Alice's enthusiastic smile couldn't have been more artificial if it was manufactured in a factory.

"What are you, uh, doing here, Tasha?" Turning her attention to Tasha, Alice tried her best to compose herself as much as this awkward situation allowed.

Tasha opened her mouth to speak, but Lenore took the obligation of butting in and speaking for her.

"Tasha is here to get you back, silly goose! But me, on the other hand, well, you obviously know why I'm here. They didn't accept any of my 7 cards, and I obviously don't carry around that much cash. Before they could take legal action, I quickly made up a story about my husband having sufficient funds in his Bentley - that the valet were in possession of - and went off to call for them to bring it around. That's when I made my dashing escape. Of course, they will be after me in the morning, but I plan on having the full payment by then. My agency is wiring me money. I called your cell phone, dear, but Tasha answered. Quite strange that she had your cell phone and you weren't in the same room," Lenore tilted her head and looked at Tasha curiously, before brightening her features and giving the girl a bemused smile, "long-story-short: Tasha saved me, and here I am!"

"That was the short version?" Alice rolled her eyes and stepped aside to signal Tasha into her bedroom.

"Mum, just fold out the couch and crash there." Before Lenore could protest, Alice had already closed the door and put her full attention into Tasha, who stood awkwardly lopsided as she eyed the ground.

"I… wanted to bring you this, anyway, so I figured I would just bring Lenore here while I was returning this," Tasha spoke quietly, just above a whisper, as she hesitantly handed Alice's iPhone to her. "I'm sorry if bringing her here caused you problems," she finished as she slowly raised her gaze to Alice's face.

Alice could obviously tell there was a glint of sadness in the way Tasha's eyes softened, and quite frankly it broke her heart. She could tell Tasha was fighting an internal war with her feelings, and all Alice wanted to do was save her from that. For the first time in a long time, Alice didn't know what to say to make things right. She had always been the go-to girl in their group of friends for all types of problems, but now, not even her knowledge on relationships could help her out.

"No… it's okay. She causes me problems, but…" Alice couldn't even finish. She felt no need to finish. The mere presence of Tasha muddled all of her words together, and she couldn't get a complete coherent sentence out.

Tasha wasn't the only one with an ongoing internal war. Alice's feelings were also up in arms, battling each other seemingly to the death. Out of all of the people Alice has ever been with, there were only two who impacted her life in such a way she actually thought about settling down and living the rest of her life with them. The first, Dana, speaks for herself. Dana was Alice's first true love. Real true love. Not fleeting juvenile crushes, or irrelevant one-night stands. Dana was the most real thing that ever brought Alice to know the meaning of love. When Dana died, a part of Alice's world died with her.

But now, there's Tasha. Tasha is real. Tasha is alive. Tasha is here - right in front of her. Alice hasn't completely lost Tasha, but she can't escape the thought that she has. When Clea suddenly appeared in Alice's life and tempted Alice to break it off with Tasha, only for Alice to turn around and realize Tasha means more to her than a fleeting relationship with a random girl, Alice thought she had truly lost Tasha. And now, for a second time, a girl threatens to break Tasha and Alice's relationship apart.

This time, though, it has nothing to do with Alice. Jamie - their best friend - their third-wheel-crush that turned into something more than a third-wheel-crush – is now a very real threat to everything Alice and Tasha have built together.

Jamie is in love with Tasha. And – maybe – Tasha is in love with Jamie, too.

_'But, why would Tasha be here if she was in love with Jamie? Shouldn't she be in Jamie's arms right now, gushing about how amazing the sex they just had was?' _Alice pondered up even more reasons, until she finally glanced down to her hand and saw she was holding her lost cell phone. She hadn't even noticed that she had taken it back from Tasha. Her heart sank.

_'Was Tasha just bringing my phone back to me? That can't be it. She would have just gotten someone else to return it to me. She wouldn't still be standing in my bedroom right now. Then, why is she here?'_

Before Alice could think up any other crazy reasons for Tasha being here, Tasha cleared her throat and began to speak once more, "I don't…" she paused, clenching her hands into fists, internally cursing herself for being weak. She knows damn well that she is not weak, yet when it comes to Alice, her complete resolve becomes broken down into a fumbled mess of emotion.

"Damn it, Alice… I…" Alice stepped forward and cautiously raised her hand, but before it reached Tasha's shoulder, she lost her own resolve also, and let her arm fall to her side as Tasha continued speaking, "I'm not going to lie to you. There were feelings for Jamie, yeah. Feelings. Thinking is cheating. Feeling is cheating. I cheated on you. But, not physically. I realized that what I had with Jamie was not love. I don't give out love so freely like that, Al, you know that," she took a deep breath, composing herself before finishing, "I love you, Alice. I can't say I know why. I know we're not matched up perfectly. We have absolutely nothing in common, but I can't stop loving you. After you left The Planet, Jamie and I talked. We talked about how it's not worth it to break you and me up over something as little as what Jamie and I could have had. You were here for me at some of the most important times in my life, and I want you there for even more times like that. I can't see why, but I want to make this work with you, not Jamie."

Alice was completely set aback. She hadn't expected Tasha to come to her apartment and confess any of that at all. Tasha had never opened up to her like that before. She supposed she had Jamie to thank for that, and that's one of the few good things that came out of that entire situation.

As Alice's lips curved up into a tiny sly smile, she stepped forward and cupped Tasha's cheeks in her hands. Alice intended on showing Tasha just what she meant to her.

Today was definitely weird. Today, actions spoke louder than words. Alice appreciated everything Tasha had said. She was very thankful that Tasha had come back into her life, and was open to making things work out. Clea was forgiven. Jamie was forgiven. All that mattered now was the way Tasha pressed Alice back onto the bed, the way Tasha trailed kisses up Alice's neck, and the way Alice arched into Tasha and thanked whatever divine forces that were up there that brought Tasha back to her.

They wordlessly decided that they would be fashionably late to Bette and Tina's party, and the bowl of melting ice cream lay forgotten.


End file.
